December 19, 2002

Your thoughts on Shockey going to the Pro Bowl and Tiki making it an as alternate.

I really excited for those guys. I am really happy for them. They are deserving. Jeremy is having a great year and Tiki should have been a starter the way I see it. And Strahan too. I am glad to see him go again. It’s great to see guys get recognized. They are obviously having great years and they deserve to go. BR>

What needs to be done to win in Indianapolis?

I think we have to eliminate our turnovers. I think we have to put some drives together and we have to end with seven. Three is probably not going to get it done in this game. We have to play solid all around. We can’t get behind early. We have to come out of the blocks playing well. With their crowd and fans excited, they could make it a long day for us.

Re: playoffs.

We are still playing for something. We got help last week. We took care of the things we needed to take care of. We are going to need help, which isn’t a great position to be in at this point in the season, but a lot of teams aren’t in a position to go to the playoffs and we still have a chance. I think we have to play well this weekend, but we need some help along the lines. Hopefully, we can get that.

Will you scoreboard watch during the game and why or why not would you?

It’s hard not to. I can sit here and say I am not going to watch, but it is natural to do it anyway when you have a little downtime. I think we will be aware, but we can’t let it distract us from what we need to do on the field. It is going to be a tough game. They are playing well. They are fighting for their playoff lives. It is on the road in a loud place. We have to focus and concentrate with no distractions.

Re: having something to play for.

It’s definitely nice to have something to play for. To go through the last couple of games out of it, obviously you are still going to play hard and you are still going to win, but having games that matter makes it more exciting for you. Having said that, we are hanging on. We need help. But, we have to make sure we play well this weekend and the weekend after that and hopefully we can slide in.

Re: Peyton Manning.

It seems like he is playing very well. It seems like they have a very elaborate package of audibles on the line and that sort of thing. I haven’t really seen him play a whole lot this year, but it looks like he is playing great. Obviously Harrison is having a great year and someone needs to get the ball to him. They do a lot of different things and what I have seen was very impressive.

Are numbers being talked about, with you facing tough teams and Atlanta and New Orleans facing not-so-tough teams?

No, because it all doesn’t matter unless we win. They play some teams that aren’t having real good years, but it is all for naught unless we play well and we win. We are not worried about that and we can’t control that. We can control what we do on Sunday and our preparation. Hopefully, we will play well and win.

What is the mindset and feeling in this locker room?

It is pretty good. We are having a good week of practice. We have really responded the past couple of weeks. I think guys are excited. I think we understand that we are still in it. We want to practice well and play well this weekend. So, I think the guys are up, the guys are excited. We had fun out there today in practice and hopefully it will translate into playing well on Sunday.